Avenge Us
by Azure Lightning Emerald Cloud
Summary: After the Snap, Carol is blinded by rage. She manages to track down Thanos and they fight. However, they draw, and the result of their confrontation has both of them reeling. Now, with her two new companions, Carol must get back to Earth, and plan for round two with the Mad Titan. [Carol/Maria], Shuri,
1. Death Is Not Your Destiny Today

Avenge Us

CHAPTER 1: Death Is Not Your Destiny Today

They were stargazing at the time. They weren't on Earth; they were lying on a bed of exotic flowers, on a moon far, far away from any conflict. They pair of them planned on taking a couple back to feed a now adult Monica's adorable obsession with all things alien.

Maria had been laughing at something stupid Carol had said. She always laughed at Carol's jokes, sometimes it seemed the dumber they were, the more uproarious Maria's responses became.

There was a pulse. A kind of shadow that Carol felt in her bones. It washed over her, tried to destroy her, but before she could consciously react, her powers almost roared to life in defiance; but not in the normal glow of gold. She didn't know it, but in the moment the Infinity Six decided to erase her, her eyes flashed Tesseract blue. Her eyes flickered back to normal as the terrible presence almost _decided _she was worth too much trouble, and passed her by.

It happened so fast that Maria didn't even notice the sudden change in Carol's posture; once languid, but now rigid. "Maria, get up, something's _wrong_," Carol said with a calmness she didn't quite feel.

All of a sudden Maria's laugh, which lit up Carol's world, became a terrified croak. "Carol?" was all she managed to say before she faded into dust.

Carol's outburst of horror knew no words. All she knew was that her mouth was making these sounds that weren't even _human _anymore. She desperately clutched the ash that was her Maria just seconds ago.

Some time later, her pager went off. It made a noise she programmed it with over a decade ago, a song she thought was hilarious. But she barely heard it. Her throat was raw from the screaming.

She looked at her modified pager, in small black letters it read, **AVENGE US. **

There were less than ten of people that she truly cared enough to go to war for. And all but one of them was dead. Using a modified device she had made years ago during her last visit to Earth, she was able to get in contact in Monica.

Monica, who was still alive, but who's own wife and daughter were gone, disappeared in front of her, right at the breakfast table. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm s-s-sorry," Carol sobbed into the receiver as she told her daughter Maria had died too.

"She was with you right?" Monica managed to say after she brought her own sobbing under control.

Despite being light-years apart, the older woman nodded. "I'm gonna find who did this, I s-swear," Carol promised her daughter. Carol and Monica became legally mother and daughter when Carol returned to Earth, having assured a relatively peaceful life for her new Skrull friends. Fury was there, so was Coulson and Everett Ross. Carol had gotten to know Coulson through Fury, and Everett was one of Maria's closest friends; the only one she was able to lean on when Carol had disappeared in 1989. Fury was able to pull some strings so no questions were asked about her gender, and the paperwork went through flawlessly.

"C-come home, mommy, please?" Monica pleaded.

Carol bit her lip in self-loathing with what she was about to say, "I will baby,

I promise. I love you so much, and I'll be home soon, I promise."

It wasn't a lie per-say, but Carol knew she had to find who did this. She had to _avenge _Maria, if for no other reason, hearing her daughter's broken voice reassured her that the path she planned to take was right.

She found not too long later. The Kree were normally stingy with their intel, but even they weren't immune to the Great Death. Their spies found Thanos within weeks, and relayed his location to their former soldier.

Carol and Thanos' fight was a blur of rage and light. The geography around them was changing as mountains were levelled, depressions created, and forests burned. She didn't know it, but her relentless pursuit denied him the respite he needed to activate the time gem. And he was never able to overwhelm her with the power of the gauntlet, for she gave as good as she got. The whole fight left him questioning 'what the hell is this thing?' Their fight ended when she laid a hand on the gauntlet channelling all her grief into her hand in a wordless scream. She was touching both the blue stone and the deep orange one when it happened. The gauntlet, already fractured, came apart, the two stones coming lose.

Two young women appeared from nothing. Thanos let out a yell, causing a portal to form. He knew he was losing. He had to get this angry goddess away from him at all costs. The two women were unconscious. As he threw Carol into the portal with a flash of purple light, the two women were sent through the portal as well.

As Carol flew backwards towards the portal, her hand found purchase on one particularly frayed section of the gauntlet causing the blue stone to fly off. Oddly, the blue stone flew into Carol's mouth, which was open in a roar of determination. However, she didn't notice that, as she was slightly pre-occupied.

Carol fell through the portal just as she saw Thanos' face contort in horror at what had just happened, he had lost possession of the space gem, and then the portal closed.

Carol was somewhere else. She was flying, no, falling. She almost choked on something in her mouth, and without thinking, brought her teeth down on it, crushing it into dust. Perhaps if she knew what she held there was the space gem, she might've chosen a different solution, but it was not to be. It basically detonated in her mouth, imbuing her with the power it held. She blacked out.

She faintly heard screaming before a blur of scarlet swooped in front of her and pulled her up short. The landing was not one to phone home about, but it wasn't catastrophic either. Carol shakily got to her feet, regarding her surroundings, as per her training. They were on a desert devoid of any direct sunlight. She looked up and could see a planet with rings not too far away. It took up the horizon. The desert, _moon, probably_, they were on had a sickly blue tint to it.

Not seeing any immediate threats, she looked at the two women in front of her. They were very pretty, but dressed in such a way that raised Carol's eyebrow.

"Who the hell are you?" Carol rasped.

The girl dressed in red, who had crimson power crackling around her hands looked surprised at the tall blonde. "I'm Wanda," she decided on.

Carol looked to the younger of the two women, who had some impressive gauntlets on, despite the fierce expression on the girl's face, she couldn't be older than your typical undergrad, "And you, sweetheart?" Carol asked with a little more tact.

The younger girl regally regained her posture and spoke in an accent that Carol couldn't exactly pinpoint, but the girl's tone was one of command, at first. "I'm Princess Shuri…what is with your eyes, Mohawk lady?"

Carol dissolved the helmet around her head. Her Mohawk reverting to her normal shoulder length cut, "What do you mean?"

The red crackling vanished from Wanda's hands as she too peered into the Captain's eyes with confusion. Carol spotted a small pond not twenty meteres away and was there in a flash, peering into the depths.

They were right to be perturbed by her eyes, her right eye was almost normal except for her iris becoming the iridescent gold that denoted her powers, markedly different from how she knew she looked when she powered up. That wasn't what surprised her though. It was her left eye. Her iris here was also gleaming gold. But the whites weren't white anymore, they were blue, and they were glowing with all the power of the Tesseract.


	2. The Queen, the Witch, and the Captain

CHAPTER 2: The Queen, the Witch, and the Captain

"Well that's different," Carol muttered as she took in her new aesthetic. Despite having a throw down with Thanos, she was basically uninjured. Thanos was though. One of his legs was mangled by one of her blasts. Sheer force of will could only sustain him until the adrenaline left, but if he didn't get serious help, he'd never walk again.

She noticed the migraine building with mounting annoyance. She had failed to avenge Maria. Thanos was still alive. Though he certainly looked worse for wear, he was just too strong with a fully loaded gauntlet.

Carol got a crash-course in the Infinity Six, or stones, or gems or whatever the fuck they were when she went to Xandar. While there, she learned that Accuser coward Ronan tried to destroy the planet using the Power gem. The man who explained everything to her, a tall human-looking fellow called Corpsman Dey, said it was purple. Dey, that lucky bastard, didn't lose his family in the Great Death, or when Thanos laid waste to the Nova Corp. Carol had met them, they were so sweet, and horribly aware of their miraculous situation. It brought back memories of Monica as a child; the good, simple, and loving days stargazing with her toddler that would never return.

Carol squatted down and quickly wiped her eyes, letting out a shaky breath. She needed to process her failure. Thanos was alive, and she hadn't avenged Maria. But she did take from him one of the stones in the gauntlet. _Is that what I ate mid-fall? Fuck. Fuck, I thought that was like a pebble or some shit. Well now I guess I get to compare notes with Gosse about how the Tesseract tastes huh? _It tasted sparky.

Carol could see the two newcomers beginning to talk amongst themselves, "What happened?"

"Thanos won," was the response from the eastern European girl; at least that's the closest Carol could pin her accent._ Russian or Ukrainian? Probably not with my luck with guessing people's accents. Monica and Maria were both always so much better at that kind of thing than me._

Wanda sat down in in the sand and started sobbing. The younger girl, _Princess Shuri_, Carol reminded herself, seemed momentarily baffled by Wanda's words, but crouched down to comfort the devastated Sokovian.

"Shit. Shit, really? What happened? One of his lieutenants knocked me out. What happened with the battle?" Shuri asked as she paced back and forth.

"I had to kill him. I had to, I-I- I held Thanos back, but then everything went green and he revered time. And then Vision was alive again, but Thanos just…" Wanda's desolate expression was enough for Shuri to get the picture. She didn't pry any further. But they were so absorbed in their own discussion; they didn't notice the footsteps approaching them.

"What happened next?" Carol's voice was curt. While she didn't enjoy needling the sobbing woman for more information, she _needed to know_. "I'm sorry, but I need to know how Thanos _erased _half the universe."

Shuri mouthed _half the universe? _To herself while Wanda rose to meet the Captain's eyes. "After he _murdered _Vis, Thor landed a lucky hit with his axe, buried it in the monster's chest. But then Thanos said, 'should've aimed for the head,' and then snapped his finger with the gauntlet," Wanda paused for a moment. "There was this flash, and then I felt this _thing, _it was like a wraith, or a presence around me, and then people started turning to ash. Sam, Bucky, your brother," Shuri swallowed a sob at that, but Wanda couldn't let herself stop now, "I did to, I think. I died. It wasn't painful exactly, but it felt _wrong_." Wanda looked lost for words. Carol tried to focus on the positives: _maybe Maria hadn't been in pain? But that look those beautiful wide eyes of hers, she _knew _what was happening, I could sense it._

"It wasn't exactly like dying," Wanda said after a moment.

"How would you know the difference? If I'm here too, Thanos must've got me as well. I got knocked out by one of his people so…you've died before?" Shuri asked after a little introspection. Carol settled her questioning gaze on Wanda as well.

"When my b-brother and I got our powers, I flat lined for a few minutes," Wanda closed her eyes and winced, "My brother though I was gone for good, according to him, the Hydra scientists stopped trying to bring me back. I died on the table, but then my powers activated. He said I was cocooned in red energy and then when it was gone, they could see me breathing again so they put me back on their machines."

When Wanda opened her eyes again, there was a far away look in them, and it made Carol feel for the girl. But again, that didn't stop her from asking for what she needed to know, "What was the source of your powers?"

"One of the stones, the one that Thanos ripped from my- from Vision's head. It was the yellow one in the gauntlet."

_So she's not so different from me, _Carol thought to herself. Another thought gripped her, "How the hell are you here, if you were dusted?" _Think Danvers! The gauntlet had six stones, I took one, but when I lost my temper at the end there I touched one of the others. The orange one? Somehow that's the key. Did that fall through the portal too? I suppose we'll have to have a look see around this shithole. _

"No idea. I didn't know I died, but if we get back to my lab, perhaps I could have some tests run that would tell us something," Shuri piped up.

"Are you really a princess?" Carol couldn't help but quipping.

Shuri thought for a moment before asking Wanda with a dark tone, "Did my brother really turn to dust?" The Scarlet Witch nodded. "Then no. I'm a Queen." There was no joy in her words, and Carol immediately felt shameful for asking so flippantly. Shuri recovered brilliantly though, "We need to find a way to phone home," the small smirk growing on the young queen's face was enough to put a little warmth back in the hearts of both Wanda and Carol. _This kid's a trooper, _Carol thought with affection. She was again reminded of young Monica.

Before Carol could mention her space travelling skills, there was a sudden displacement of sand a couple hundred metres to their left as a massive predator rose from the dunes. It was gigantic. It may be a long sprint away, but it felt so much closer. This thing could easily decimate any predator that had ever lived on Earth; at least on land. It would've literally eaten the Tyrannosaurus Rex for breakfast.

Its ugly warbling roar was loud enough that Shuri and Wanda both clasped their hands of their ears, but Carol just narrowed her eyes. The creature looked like a cross between a crocodile and some kind of gargantuan dog, a chimera of sorts.

Carol just looked at it with steel in her eyes as it began to sprint towards them on four massive legs. "Dumbass," she muttered as she made a single finger gun in its direction.

It was time to test her new power ceiling.


	3. Calling For a Friend

CHAPTER 3: Calling For a Friend

Maybe the giant croc-thingy could sense what was about to happen, but then again, it was running at full tilt, which was enough to give Shuri nightmares. Carol took a short breath before firing a photon blast at their attacker from her fingers, which were still pointed like a gun. Wanda and Shuri were almost blow off their feet, the sand around Carol and along the path of her shot turned to glass. Before the creature could even turn, it vanished with a short shriek as her photon blast went right through it. The blast continued to carve a visibly gaping hole in the mountain that was behind it, miles behind it.

"Holy shit! Is that your full power?" Shuri was quick to ask, once she regained her footing.

Carol didn't even hesitate, "No. Not even close. The first six years I had powers, I might as well have had both hands tied behind my back."

Before she could continue, Wanda asked, "Why is that" as Carol briefly touched the patch of skin between her shoulder and neck where the inhibitor chip was inplanted.

"The Kree wanted to control me, like a weapon. And for six years, I'm ashamed to say I was everything they'd hoped for." Carol shook her head as her friend Talos' words from twenty years ago rattled around her head: '_My hands are filthy with it too.'_

"What happened after the first six years then?" Shuri piped up.

Carol smirked a little, "That's a long story. One that will take a while to explain, and I'm getting the feeling that there'll be others who need to hear it as well. Especially humans."

"That's a bullshit answer, Carol," Shuri responded promptly; Wanda's lips quirked in amusement.

Carol gave a long suffering sigh before saying, "I was a pilot in the 80's, I got shot down by aliens, then I blew up the Tesseract engine that powered the prototype plane, lost all memory, spent the next six years fighting a shameful war, landed on earth, met Fury, reunited with M-Maria and Monica," she stumbled there, but neither Shuri nor Wanda interrupted or gave any hint they noticed (they did). "Then I helped some alien refugees find help after repelling an orbital bombardment by my former comrades. I've been going back to Earth every so often since, and when I'm not there, I'm flying around the galaxy, helping out." Despite the earlier stumble, she kept her rapid pace, and was now taking a well-earned deep breath.

Shuri raised a hand and Carol gave a long suffering sigh, "Yes, your majesty?"

"How old are you?" Shuri asked almost shyly. _Almost_. Despite their rather bleak situation, even Wanda rolled her eyes at that question.

Carol shrugged, "Physically? I'm about twenty-nine." Shuri was about to say something crass no doubt before Wanda shut her down with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Are you done asking dumb questions?" Carol wasn't being mean, she couldn't help but have a small grin at the younger woman's ironic insolence. '_Royalty from where again?' _Carol wondered with an internal chuckle.

She began fiddling with the holographic display that rose from her forarm. Shuri was instantly entranced at the technology but was pulled aside by Wanda before she could continue to pester Carol about it. "Princess–,"

"It's Queen. But you can call me Shuri," the young Wakandan royal was quick to correct and reassure.

Wanda let out a small chuckle, a little hollow-sounding to Shuri, but better than nothing. "Before the battle, we went to you to see if the stone could be removed without killing Vis. How far did you get?" Shuri looked up at the slightly taller woman with sorrow in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Wanda," she said in an uncharacteristically somber tone. "I didn't have nearly enough time. And even if I had, I'm pretty sure Thanos' minion destroyed my lab with the hardrive on it. I'm so sorry Wanda."

Wanda just nodded to herself. The slim hope hse had for Vision was just as dead as he was. The Sokovian found herself abruptly pulled into a warm hug by the young queen. She didn't have the heart to even apologize for her quiet tears soaking into Shuri's shirt. Shuri began softly murmuring to the grieving avenger in her mother tongue. It was all Wanda could do to just hold onto her new friend.

Some tome later, the girls broke apart when Carol let out a exclamation that definitely wasn't in a language the other two recognized. A holographic image sprung from her wrist: it was a drifting space ship. It looked like an ostentatious military jet if the wings were distinctly more birdlike, more curved. Flying in atmosphere clearly wasn't the priority when this ship was designed.

The garbled transmission drew all their attention for one important reason: it was in American English. "…anyone out there? Heh, I doubt it. Been broadcasting this SOS for days, and nothing. Nebula's probably gonna cannibalize me at this point. _Fuck you human! _Yeah, that's not important right now. This is the _Milano_ calling anyone listening. This ship belongs to Peter Quill of the ravagers, if any of you are listening, we could really use your help.

Our food and water is gone, we'll probably be dead in a couple days. _You will be. _Okay, Nebula will definitely outlive me. This has been an SOS."

"That's Stark," Wanda whispered as the transmission became clearer towards the end.

"Are you sure you know this guy. There's probably a million distress calls going out right now," Carol said as she levelled the girl with a sympathetic look.

Carol hummed to herself before decideing this was how they got off this rock. "Can you defend yourself? If one of those creatures shows up?"

"Yes. Not as easily as you, but I can do it," Wanda replied quickly.

Without further ado, Carol took several steps back, and suddenly her face was covered in a helmet, hair drawn into a Mohawk before she smirked and blasted into the air, and disappeared an streak of light.


	4. Ride of the Valkyrie

CHAPTER 4: Ride of the Valkyrie

The distress beacon wasn't too far away. It seemed like an easy thing, really. But what made it more complicated, was that Carol was picking up a second distress beacon. She was almost to the point the first beacon, 'Stark's' originated from. But there was one on the way there. Should she stop for it? How long were Wanda and Shuri safe? She didn't think it would take longer than a few hours at the godly speed she was going, but finding the second beacon could change that. The second beacon didn't have a fancy message like Stark's, so she didn't know what to expect.

_Shit. Damn me and my moral compass_, she thought to herself, deciding to go to the second beacon. It was on the way, so the detour wasn't much of a problem. It was a small vessel, a ship her suit identified as Sakaarian in origin. That was strange, since saying something _originated _from Sakaar was like saying it was melded together at a garbage disposal facility.

After smashing through some space debris along the way to spice the boring flight up a little, she found the ship in question. It was a luxury skiff, not a people transporter. The colours on it were grating to her eyes. _If this is some prissy asshole, I'm leaving him to rot_. But then the derelict ship rotated and she saw a big problem, the hull was riddled with blast damage. The metal was melted and mangled, twisting unnaturally and exposing some of the ship's innards. Parts of it had clearly drifted off recently, there wasn't much time before the wound to the ship compromised the hull's interior integrity and pressure was lost. This pilot did not escape conflict cleanly.

"This is a response to your distress beacon, please identify yourself," Carol said in a level tone.

"….you're not gonna give me your identity first? That's a bit rude, yeah?" the voice that responded was decidedly female, and more than a little raspy, like she had gone too long without water. What a way to respond to a rescuer. Her accent wasn't what Carol was expecting. It was oddly _British_. Not a very common accent among the common folk of outer space in her experience.

Carol tilted her head in appreciation of the sass. "I'm Carol," she settled on.

"Valkyrie. My ship was obviously blown apart a little bit, was able to get away from that purple _********_, but not unscathed. If you work for Thanos by any chance, you'd better blow me away, cause if you don't, I'll float out there and decapitate you." Carol did not understand the epithet 'Valkyrie' used, but it was guttural and sounded quite fitting actually. She recognized the tone of this woman,

"Thanos is no friend of mine. Mortal enemy, actually. So you're in good company," Carol said as she circled the ship. Valkyrie was lucky the hull's integrity hadn't betrayed her yet, Carol had to work fast, _but I can't fix that blast damage. Even if I power the damaged engine, the hull will collapse and Valkyrie will die in space, screaming in silence. Fuck. Think Vers, c'mon!_

Even if her time with the Kree was riddled with retrospectively complicated emotions, those six years were crucial to her development, and for better or worse shaped who she became, even after decimating her old Starforce squad. Sometimes she relied on Vers, the fearless, remorseless warrior who could go to extremes that Captain Danvers the pilot wasn't always capable of.

"Mortal enemy? How does that work?" Valkyrie asked over their comms. She seemed genuinely intrigued.

"We fought, but he couldn't kill me, so he threw me through a portal, big lightshow," Carol said breezily as she frantically tried to come up with a plan. Her wrist beeped with another ping from Stark's beacon. She looked at the distance indicator, two good things. Firstly, he wasn't too far away; and secondly, she was now close enough to properly open a communication channel. "Hold on a minute there, I'm gonna make a call to somebody nearby who hopefully has a ship in better condition than you."

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" came Valkyrie's response. Carol flinched at the woman's tone. It was _resigned_.

"Just hold on okay? Are you alone?"

"I have you, don't I?" Valkyrie replied with a dark chuckle. _That doesn't make me feel better damn it. _

Technically, she didn't need to really _breath _anymore, as she discovered after the Tesseract's power washed over her when her inhibitor shattered aboard Mar-Vell's laboratory all those years ago. But in moments like these, she needed a deep breath. "I'm going to push the ship towards the second beacon, here's hoping their ship is in better condition than yours," Carol said quickly.

Valkyrie waited a moment before responding, "Thanks Carol." _Well, she sounds a little more hopeful, God I hope I don't let her down_. _Please don't let me fail this woman_.

Without further ado, she opened a channel with the _Milano_, "Hello? This is Carol. Are you still there?" she asked without sounding _too _frantic.

There was a short pause before the inevitable reply, "HOLY SHIT, NEBULA, WE MADE CONTACT! Hi, I'm Tony, can you save our asses please?"

"Yeah, quick question, is your ship damaged? I've come across a second distress beacon and they need to be moved to a ship that's not about to die," Carol was quick and to the point.

A different voice responded. Carol just assumed it was Nebula; her voice had a distinct synthetic twang. "Our ship is in perfect condition. Though we have no fuel." _Succinct, that's nice,_ Carol thought as she started to accelerate, pushing the skiff ahead of her.

"We're coming to you now, don't worry about the fuel problem. I'll handle that. We won't be too long, maybe an hour, but I need to get access to your airlock in a hurry." Carol was truly glowing now, her power flickering around her as she increased her speed. She could feel Valkyrie's ship beginning to come apart between her hands. But if she slowed down, Valkyrie would be dead anyway.

"Copy that, standing by," Nebula replied. Carol appreciated her terse precision.

The next hour and half passed in a blur. Valkyrie wasn't a particularly talkative woman. _Or maybe she's praying or something? We're so close. _

Luckily, the ship was close, "We're close, are you ready to open the airlock?"

"Yeah, Nebula's on it. You don't happen to have water with you do you?" Stark asked.

Carol rolled her eyes before consulting Valkyrie, "You don't happen to have any sustenance with you do you? Water?"

"A dwindling supply of alcohol, but other than that, no," Valkyrie's response was slurred slightly. _Oh boy, dwindling supply indeed._

"Don't drink all of it. Get a couple bottles ready to jump ship, literally," Carol responded. "I can see it now, their ship is close by. Are you ready to make a bit of a space jump? Your airlock coupling is totally destroyed, so as long as you're in vacume for less than ten-ish seconds you should be fine."

Valkyrie's response stunned Carol, "I'm Asgardian, so I can survive a bit longer than that. Though you're probably a goddess with what you're able to do, and I haven't even properly met you yet."

"Nebula, we're seconds away, on my word, open the airlock, confirm?"

"Copy," Nebula said calmly.

Carol switched her channel back to Valkyrie, "Okay, move to the cockpit, and open the airlock, I'll catch you, and ferry you to the other ship. Are you ready Valkyrie?" Carol asked.

"My name…it's actually Brunnhilde. And yes Carol, I'm ready." With that, Brunnhilde activated the airlock, and she was floated into space.

Carol immediately flew to catch her, the Asgardian was dressed in softly gleaming silver ceremonial armour. She had a sword sheathed at her hip, and a rucksack slung over her shoulder. She looked peaceful as frost began to coat her dark flawless skin. Her hair was becoming coated in frost as well as it flared out behind her, untethered.

Carol swiftly tossed the whole ship aside, and gently pulled Brunnhilde to the _Milano._ "Open the airlock now please, we're outside!" Carol didn't bother sounding calm

Nebula delivered on her word. Without much hassle, Brunnhilde and Carol were both aboard the _Milano. _They were safe for the moment, and that was what mattered.


	5. Look At Me I'm the Captain Now

CHAPTER 5: Look At Me; I'm the Captain Now

Before any new introductions could be made, Carol found herself in a very strong hug. Brunnhilde had her arms around the blonde and was squeezing her tightly enough to snap the spine of an Olympic athlete. Brunnhilde the Valkyrie stood a little shorter than Carol, so the blonde found her face buried in Brunnhilde's layered dark locks.

Carol took a deep breath in surprise, and Brunnhilde smelled like…well, she smelled fucking amazing that's what. Carol gently patted the back of the Asgardian in an awkward though admirable attempt to comfort her.

After a short while, Stark's voice echoed through the ship from where he was in the cockpit presumably, "Nebula! Did we get them? Are they safe?"

Nebula, who looked upon the other two's embrace with naked sorrow in her gleaming black eyes swiftly turned away and stalked back to the cockpit to reassure Stark. But really it was to get away from any reminder of her dead sister.

"Brunnhilde, it's alright, I caught you. You're safe now." Carol didn't know what else to say really. She'd been a soldier for the better part of twenty years in one form or another. So she wasn't the best at the whole emotion thing. Maria got her, but that was mainly due to a wealth of patience and shared history.

"Thank you Carol, truly," came the Valkyrie's reply in a much more vulnerable tone than she used on the ride over.

The was going on a little too long for Carol's usual comfort, but she indulged her new _friend(?)_ because she was nice like that.

When Brunnhilde released the Kree hybrid, her cheeks were flushed; the frost from the vacuum of space was only a memory now. Carol's cheeks were a little red despite herself. She wasn't _senseless_. There was a physical reaction, voluntary or not, when such a beautiful woman was up in her personal space.

"I'm sorry, I'm usually so…_tactile_," Brunnhilde confessed with a little bit of her snark from earlier back, to Carol's relief.

"I doubt you're usually so close to death. I get it, and you shouldn't feel sorry. I never turn down hugs," Carol replied with a small grin.

There were footsteps approaching them, and their moment of emotional vulnerability was gone. "I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough," Tony Stark was standing in the doorway to the airlock. He was leaning heavily on Nebula. His shirt was ratty and matted with blood.

Brunnhilde sucked in a breath; this man had been impaled. "How are you still standing at all?" she couldn't help but asking.

"Nanotech," Stark responded promptly. There was a ghost of pride in his voice, but it was only that, a ghost. "Was able to seal the wound, and stopped the damage from getting any worse. I'll need actual help soon though, but that's a luxury at this point." He looked both women up and down and his eyes were immediately drawn to the rucksack the Valkyrie had dropped on the floor when she hugged Carol. "Water?" he asked with a palpable desperation.

"Booze. It was all I had on my destroyed ship," Brunnhilde replied unrepentantly. After all, there was really no point in being sorry for something that she couldn't help.

Tony Stark let out something suspiciously close to a squeal as he inspected the contents of the bag. He didn't recognize any of it, "Any recommendation for humans? Any of this poisonous to us?"

Brunnhilde shrugged. How was she supposed to know what humans were capable of consuming? It's not like she'd ever met one other than Banner. And even he was something _more_. Brunnhilde sighed, her only friend on Sakaar, big green guy was probably dead. He was strong, but not Thanos strong.

"I'll try it first then," Carol supplied as she uncorked one of the darker-looking ones. She was always partial to the darker liquors back on earth. After a sip, she pondered it before saying, "This is probably relative to your everyday Jack Daniels."

Tony didn't need more of an invitation than that. He took a healthy gulp, then another, and another, before putting the bottle down on one of the small tables built into the walls. "Shit that was dumb," he chided himself as the kick finally hit him. "That's not terrible actually, but it'll tide me over I think. I'm already feeling it."

Nebula responded to Stark's antics by taking up the bottle he set down and promptly drank it all. Turning to Brunnhilde, she said, "Thank you stranger."

"You may call me Valkyrie," Brunnhilde said with an approving nod at Nebula's ability to hold her liquor.

"What the fuck?" Stark mouthed to himself as he inspected the now empty bottle.

Carol just shrugged. Ever since the full Kree blood/marrow transplant she underwent on Hala, she'd been unfortunately immune to all but the most reckless consumption of alcohol. And even then, it was the specialty Asgardian stuff that was potent enough to kill humans with a fraction of what Stark just downed. It appeared that Brunnhilde did _not _get her booze from Asgard, which turned out to be a good thing this time, for Stark's sake.

"So, Mr. Stark, what brings you to this side of the galaxy?" Carol asked as she went to go sit down. There really wasn't much point to literally standing on ceremony when there were a multitude of seats to be occupied.

Stark stiffened, but didn't make any threatening movements, "I told you my name was Tony, how do you know who I am?"

Nebula and Brunnhilde both looked curious about that as well. Carol felt the tension rise and she just rolled her eyes muttering, "Dammit Vers."

She looked Stark in the eyes, as they were of an even height with her in her boots and him not in his armour. "You, Stark, owe your life to a girl named Wanda, who recognized your voice on your distress call,"

"You wouldn't have come and saved us if she hadn't said that?" Stark asked after thinking about his answer for a moment. He was surprised on a couple different levels. The fact that Wanda pointed this woman in his direction was the big one.

Carol looked guilty for a moment before her eyes noticeably hardened. "There's millions of distress calls ringing out across the galaxy mired in horror. One in every two sentient organic life forms has been erased across this universe. I went to save you because you also had a ship, and while I can fly unassisted, my two companions could not. The second reason was that Wanda said your name was Stark, and was amenable leaving her and the other one unattended while I made a trip to fetch you."

"Companions?" Nebula asked. She wasn't nearly as offended as Stark was with the happenstance of their salvation.

Carol nodded. "I left them to come here, and I'd like to get back to them as soon as possible. They weren't exactly in the safest location when I left them."

"And Wanda Maximoff is one of them?" Stark asked for emphasis.

"I suppose, but she didn't tell me her last name. She had a nice red coat on though, really wide eyes and long brown hair. I think she lost somebody very close to her in the Decimation." Carol said calmly. She neglected to mention the circumstances of having stumbled upon Shuri and Wanda. That could wait. And if this somehow weren't stark, telling them that Wanda had extreme powers with a similar origin to her own would be betraying her new friend.

"If you were on-route to save them, why did you stop for me? You don't know me, and my ship offered nothing in the way of a tactical advantage," Brunnhilde asked quietly.

Carol winced. The cost of reverting to her Kree training in terms of controlling her emotions around other people was that she was sometimes a massive, callous, shit-head.

"I was nearby, and I was curious. Don't think for a moment I regret saving you," Carol said firmly as she turned her full attention on the Valkyrie, even going as far as to put a firm hand on the darker woman's shoulder. "I can't save everyone, but if I passed you by, knowing you as I do now, I would've have been able to live with myself. I'm sorry if I made you sound like an afterthought."

Brunnhilde nodded and gave a brief smile as she walked over to one of the beds folded into the wall. She was wiped out; let the others figure out the logistics.

"Not that one!" Nebula reprimanded, her tone suddenly venomous, drawing raised eyebrows from everyone. Brunnhilde turned with her hands up in the universal 'I'm not touching anything,' motion. Nebula visibly clamped down awesome pretty heavy emotions before adding in a softer tone, "That is…_was _my sister's bunk. I want that one."

And just like that, Nebula went from a caustic enigma to a grieving sister in the eyes of the two newcomers. Stark just lowered his eyes in sympathy.

Carol let out a deep breath. "Show me to your engine room, it's time to return to our mutual friend."

"We don't have any fuel, and the power we'd have to have to power the engines on analogue is insane," Tony pointed out.

Carol turned back with a shamelessly cocky smirk on her face, "You've no idea what _real power _is." As she said it, her eyes shifted colours. Her pupils disappeared in a deep blue glow, expanding as they overcame the irises. The whites of her eyes were a honeyed gold, though no less intimidating. Stark almost took a step back at the casual display. _Was that even deliberate on her part, or did that just happen naturally? _

Tony Stark and Nebula both shivered, not in fear though. No, for the first time since their cataclysmic confrontation with the Mad Titan, they felt hopeful again.


	6. What's Next?

CHAPTER 6: What's Next?

The ride back to the barren blue desert planet was thankfully uneventful. The _Milano _just needed a power boost really. Stark had another hit of the alien alcohol before Nebula cut him off, "It'll sustain you until we can reach the nearest way station, too much and you'll be useless to us." Despite her words, Carol could pick up the care in them. She knew there wasn't much that could bond you with somebody stronger than a shared near-death experience. There were just some things that you couldn't go through without becoming friends by the end. Fighting Thanos and drifting in space were _two _of them.

They touched down when they saw a flare of red light. Carol and Nebula got off the ramp first. "Damn," Nebula murmured as she took in the scene around them. There was a rough circle of carcasses. All of them were big and brutal-looking creatures. Carol recognized a second of the creatures she fended off numbered among the newer corpses as well.

"Thank Bast! Wanda, She's back, with a blue lady!" Shuri exclaimed with a smile from where she sat. Because, in the middle of the macabre tableau was a quaint camp fire with two figures sitting down warming their hands.

Wanda rose to her feet and regarded Carol with a small smile, and Nebula with a raised eyebrow. "You took your time," her eastern European lilt seemed almost heavier to Carol. Maybe that was because she'd been with Stark and Nebula, both who had American or roughly American accents.

"You handled yourself pretty well it looks like," Carol responded with an appreciative nod.

"Is any of that edible?" Stark asked. He was pointing to the rudimentary rotissire that Shuri had set up that was cooking a couple pieces of _something _over the fire.

"It tastes just like chicken!" Shuri said with a grin.

Carol looked to Wanda to tell her the truth, Wanda just shrugged, "It was not terrible."

Stark didn't wait for Wanda's confirmation, he sprinted–hobbled, really–over to the camp fire and began devouring the cooked meat. Nebula looked at him with undisguised disgust.

"You don't want any of this?" Tony asked as he brandished the third stick towards Nebula.

"I can wait. I'm not so weak as you, human." Nebula replied casually.

Valkyrie chuckled. She knew Nebula's type, always one to put herself last. Though if the extensive cybernetics were anything to judge by, Nebula was probably telling the truth about not needing food as desperately as Stark.

A few minutes later, Stark had sated himself with alien roast. "What now?" he asked, looking to Carol.

Carol's instinct was to say 'We go to Earth, obviously!' But something was nagging at her. But before she could say something, Wanda produced a miracle. "Look what we found at our crash-site. You truly are a formidable fighter, Carol. Depriving that monster of _two _of the stones is beyond incredible," she was holding up a softly pulsing orange stone.

"The Soul Stone," Nebula breathed. Carol turned to her.

"You've seen it before?" Carol asked.

Nebula shook her head. Was that _shame_ that Carol read in the blue woman's posture?

"My sister, Gamora, was forced into giving up the location of this one. Thanos _leveraged _my life against her. She could either watch our father literally tear me apart, or she could surrender the location of the stone," Nebula said in a dead tone.

Stark laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, "It's not your fault blue." Nebula shook him off, but Carol put her both her hands on Nebula's shoulders. She was far stronger than Nebula, and held her there until those dark eyes made contact with hers.

"You fought him harder than probably anybody, and you've been doing it for longer than anyone else," Carol's tone was different than anyone there was familiar with. It was softer, kinder than her usual flippant cadence. "We need to regroup, but as you can see, there is still hope."

"Are we going to Earth then?" Shuri asked. "My country will probably be relatively okay so long as M'baku, Nakia, or the Dora Milaje maintain control. But the others…I can't imagine what the international state of things will be," Carol spared the young woman a grin; she was the Queen of Wakanda indeed.

Carol shook her head. "If I'm going to fight Thanos again, I'm going to need an edge. Maybe a weapon of some kind to throw him off, even a little. Do you know of such a place to get ahold of a weapon capable of destroying that damn gauntlet?" she asked, looking at Nebula.

"The place you're looking for is Nidavellir," Nebula responded.


	7. A Note About Endgame (I haven't seen it)

Hello everyone,

Sorry for (perhaps) getting your hopes up with an emailed update on this story.

However, since Endgame is released this week, I thought I'd address it. I won't personally be able to see it until after many of you, so please don't leave spoilers in your review until I make it known I've seen in next week. After that, feel free to dm me about the film. (or any of the other mcu films, i like discussions)

In a future chapter, I'll put up spoiler banners for discussion of the film and/or possible plot points I may spoil myself later on, but that'll probably be at least a week from now.

I have a vague idea of how things will go big picture, but I'm sticking to what I had already planned, regardless of canon. However, elements from the film may very well find their way into this story, but I'll have to keep you posted on that because again, I haven't seen it yet.

Warm Regards,

Azure


End file.
